


Prince Charming

by WritingforTheAvengers



Category: The Punisher (TV 2017), The Punisher - Fandom, frank castle - Fandom
Genre: F/M, This is cute, i loved it, kind of fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-17
Updated: 2019-02-17
Packaged: 2019-10-30 01:53:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,332
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17819597
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WritingforTheAvengers/pseuds/WritingforTheAvengers
Summary: Frank Castle comes and goes from (Y/N)’s life like the tide. Sometimes for longer, sometimes not. This time in particular, they share a cherished memory for both, the only thing (Y/N) asks in return is for him to come back.





	Prince Charming

“Picket fence life, huh?” A familiar voice called you from behind. “It’s what you always wanted.”

“Yeah, but you barging up on me like every other day doesn’t really make it a picket fence life. It’s barely a normal one,” you chuckled and turned your head to your visitor. “Oh…” you rose your eyebrows, “you’re not coming alone,” you looked at a blonde girl with lion her that stood next to him, “and this is neither Curtis nor Madani… who dis?”

“I need a word with you,” he sheepishly admitted, “and a safe place for her…”

“Well shit,” you exhaled heavily and let the hose fall back on its place. You’d water the front yard later, apparently. 

“I hope you didn’t use that language around my kid,” he chuckled.

Frank Castle would regularly show up at your place; every once in a while he’d appear at your door. Sometimes he was all battered up; others he’d come by just to pay a visit. This time, he came with different intentions; he briefly put you up to date with everything that had happened in his life since you two last saw each other. He told you about Beth and how he met Amy, and how he ended up in New York again after Madani told him specifically not to.

On top of it, he and Amy had a price on their heads for five grand. Even you felt like giving them up, but your heart had a soft spot for the Castles in general terms, and perhaps, even more so for Frank Castle. After settling the room for Amy, you asked Frank to go to your room, since you had something to show him.

“I don’t know if this is the right moment to do this, but if you’re gonna do some crazy shit, I’d rather you have this,” you turned around and looked inside a box. You took a piece of paper and handed it to Frank. He hesitatingly took it in his hands and the moment he unfolded it, something in his face snapped. “Lisa didn’t want to go to recess that day. She said she was sad because she missed you and she wanted you to sing her a song. I told her to draw it, so that she could see how you sang to her whenever you were gone…” your voice softened, and in a matter of seconds, Frank was holding you tightly in his arms. 

“Frank showing another emotion other than rage,” Amy scoffed from the door frame. Her arms were crossed and an inquisitive look took over her features. “Gotta hand it to you, Miss, I’m impressed. Frank Castle is not an amoeba.”

Frank groaned and let go of you. His embrace was warm but as usually, it didn’t last long enough. He gulped and looked around him. “Thanks, (Y/N). I’m gonna keep this forever.”

“Yeah, you better,” you threatened. “I was saving that for myself,” you glanced over at Amy and rose your eyebrows. “We were in the middle of something, kid,” you reminded her. “It’s an adult’s thing. Go downstairs and wait for instructions.”

“Are you two siblings or what?” Amy sighed and shook her head. She headed downstairs just a moment after that.

“How long has it been? 3 years?” You gulped. “Frank, where is this going to take you? Why are you still fighting? Who are you fighting now?”

“I’ve no idea,” he replied in a raspy voice. “I mean—Billy doesn’t seem to be himself anymore, and this kid—” he shook his head—“she doesn’t even know who’s after her but we know someone is—I just can’t have a normal life. I’ve tried that and look where it got me.”

“Frank,” you took his head in your hands and looked straight at him, “you need to stop. I’ve lost count how many times I told you to, but you don’t listen, and one of these days you’re gonna wind up dead in a ditch, because you didn’t stop.”

“That’s the thing, (Y/N),” Frank looked down and his voice was shaky. “I don’t know how to stop—I—I’ve been like this for so long that I…” his jaw trembled and he had his eyes closed, as if it hurt him to even think about it. “I don’t wanna do this shit anymore, but I don’t know how to stop. I—I can’t help it.”

You sighed heavily and pressed your lips to his forehead. “I can help you—I want to help you, Frank. You just need to let me in…”

“You know I can’t do that—everyone I let in ends up hurt or straight up dead. I can’t let that happen to you,” he held on to your wrists as if it was the only think that could help him stay alive. “I need you to take care of Amy—she’s a pain in the ass, but she’s a good one.”

“You’re always bringing kids to my door,” you chuckled softly. “Promise me you’ll come back, that we’ll talk about whatever thing you wanna talk, and that we’ll have coffee until unhealthy hours, and that we’ll go to bed and doze off until noon, alright?”

“Yes, ma’am,” he chuckled and kissed your cheek. “I promise you that much.”

You breathed heavily, knowing that he’d do anything to keep his promise. He let go of you, but you held on to his broad shoulders one last time. You could smell the blood on his garments; it was a very distinct scent in him. It was like rusty, old… the stink of death, apparently. It exuded form his pores and everything of him. The Grim Reaper might be a legend, but you knew damn well that The Punisher wasn’t. He was real; way too real sometimes.

He left without further words, and you were left alone with Amy. You feel awkward having her around you; you know she’s trying to figure you out and what kind of relationship you and Frank have, and that’s something you were still trying to guess yourself. You set the table to have coffee almost automatically; since it’s something you’d do with Frank, you thought it couldn’t be much different with her. You smiled to yourself, she had some expressions and sounds that reminded you of him.

“How do you and Frank know each other?” Amy asks a little bit nervous. You had already sat down and though you made it very clear that you didn’t want to share a lot of information about the nature of your relationship with Frank, she didn’t seem to get the memo. “I mean—from what I saw earlier you two seem like you’re really close.”

“Look, kid—” you sighed heavily—“what you saw earlier was nothing. Frank and I just know each other for quite a long time and that’s about it.”

“He said you were a teacher,” she pushed.

“I was a teacher to his kids—well, only to Lisa. But the thing is that Frank and I come a long way before that…” you sighed. “We know each other since we were in high school, many years ago.”

“Yeah,” she nodded absentmindedly. “I could tell you two were close… so you wanna share or what?”

“No,” you shook your head quickly and grabbed your cup of coffee. “I’ll finish this upstairs, you can do whatever you want, except for going out. You heard Frank, you’re not allowed outside,” you moved the chair closer to the table with your hip. “I suppose I don’t need to tell you to clean up your stuff, right?” You hurried away before things could get more uncomfortable.

At bedtime, you trolled on your bed trying to get some sleep, but it was impossible. Besides, in the room next to yours, Amy was typing her life away, and it was way too silent everywhere to even get normal sleep. You pulled the covers backwards and stood up to keep Amy company, or at least, to not feel so alone yourself.

“What’dya doin’?” You leaned on the doorframe and folded your arms. “You seem to be furious at the computer, I could hear you type from my room.”

“Sorry,” Amy shook her head and left the computer aside. “I’d tell you to sit down, but this is literally your house so…” she shrugged. “What’s up?”

“I’m just a bit shaky from earlier. Frank usually does that thing of not announcing himself, but this time I’m kinda worried,” you rubbed your arms with your hands and took a step inside the room. You took a chair from near the desk and rolled it closer to the bed. “I kinda wanna apologize for my attitude earlier—I don’t get to be with people your age a lot, and I don’t share a lot of my life with Frank—it’s kind of a top secret thing.”

“It’s alright,” she assured you, “I was asking way too many things anyway. It’s kind of a bad habit,” she admitted.

“I was Lisa’s teacher,” you started. “She was my best student. She was so kind, so caring… so selfless. There was a lot of Frank in her; she had this way of looking—of staring. She was in that age when girls adore their fathers. She could talk endlessly about it, and every composition we had to do, she’d write about him. Frank was a hero for her, and he would still be even if Lisa knew the bad shit he did back then… That girl was the apple of his eye, it was crazy,” you chuckled.

“If you don’t mind me asking again…”Amy tugged at her bottom lip. “How do you and Frank know each other? Because he seems very at ease with you—like he feels good around you.”

“Frank and I grew up together, we were neighbors our entire lives. We even dated in high school, but it didn’t work out,” you chuckled. “We both realized we were better at being friends than being a couple. He’s like a brother to me, you know? He’s my best friend,” you pursed your lips. “He means the world to me, and his family always treated me as part of them, especially when I lost my folks. They were there for me.”

“Wow, he’s a big deal in your life…” Amy pondered. “How do you feel about what Frank does?”

“I hate it, and I wish he could stop… but I know he can’t. I mean—he’s tried to stop, but trouble comes right at his face,” Amy looked at you with such interest, that you felt like you were giving a lecture on Frank Castle’s life. “When he first started doing this, he stopped when he thought he found the man who got his family killed, but then he realized that it went far beyond that,” you said. “He killed some more people until he realized Bill was behind all this, and he thought it’d end up there… but it didn’t—”

“Because I appeared in his way,” Amy admitted guiltily. “I screwed things up in his life.”

“Don’t dwell on it,” you comforted her. “Shit always finds its way towards Frank; when we were kids, he couldn’t stay out of trouble. I got picked on by some kids in our class, they were douche bags, but I was a tiny lil’ thing and he defended me, but then the older siblings of these kids came along, but there he was…”

“You make him sound like he’s prince charming,” the girl chuckled and you couldn’t help but to do so. “As if the murdering spree is just a small detail about him.”

“It’s not, and I know that, but I know him from before the killing spree, before all that marine crap, and he truly is.”

“Do you love him?”

“I do,” you nodded and smiled to yourself. “I goddam do, but I don’t think it’s a romantic love—I mean, it comes and goes. Sometimes we’re very lonely, and we only have each other and… shit happens,” you shrugged. “We’d know each other very well, our strengths and weaknesses… we’d never hurt each other, but at the end of the day… Frank’s still my best friend, and the day he’s put down… I’m gonna raise hell,” you gulped. “No stone is gonna be left unturned until I get the people who do that to him.”

“He’s lucky to have you, (Y/N)…” Amy said softly. “From what I’ve seen in the time I’ve been around him, he needs people more than he lets out. He can get by on his own, but he needs someone to depend on once in a while. I guess I’m glad he’s not alone.”

“You’re a good one, Amy,” you confessed. “Frank cares about you—he cares a lot. And that’s not something a lot of people can say, so slow down with the talk back and that smart ass attitude. He’s trying his best, since he doesn’t know how to act around kids your age—he doesn’t know how to handle them—” out of a sudden, a knocking on the door startles the both of you.

You take a bat that’s under the bed and without even hesitating, you walk downstairs. Amy follows orders for perhaps the very first time in her life and she decided to stay in the room. Your steps are light, feather-like, just the way Frank taught you. The door sounded again and you glance through the window and the sight of it calmed you.

You opened the door and there he was. Beaten up, dirty and bloody, but alive. You sighed in relief and he smiled.

“You know I keep my promises,” he said in a casual manner, as if all the things he came back with didn’t matter. He stepped inside and pulled you in for a hug; whether it’d last long or not, you didn’t care. He was safe and in your arms.


End file.
